Order entry system for telecommunications network service

ABSTRACT

An order entry system communicates with the customer over a user interface and at the same time works with an automated installation system for installing network service. The order entry system prompts the customer to place a new service order. The service parameters of the new service order are passed to the installation system. The order entry system notifies the customer of the route and prompts the customer to add a service order for the route to the customer order. If the customer adds the service order to the customer order, the order entry system prompts the customer to reserve the service order or to submit an order for the service. If the customer reserves or submits an order for the service, the order entry system requests the installation system to design an actual communication line circuit to satisfy the order.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of and claims benefit of priority toU.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 10/209,527, entitled“ORDER ENTRY SYSTEM FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORK SERVICE,” filed Jul.31, 2002, which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to a world wide web order entry system fornetwork service on a telecommunication network. More particularly theinvention relates to ordering network service over the internet duringthe automated performance of the sequential tasks necessary to deliverthe network service to an ordering customer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Modern communication networks have very large capacity, can provide realtime delivery of information over diverse routes, but are highly complexin their design. Because of the complexity in the design and the manytrade-offs and choices for installation of a communication line throughsuch a network, the installation of a communication line between two endpoints for a customer can take four to five months. The installationinvolves thousands of inter-related tasks and requires many choices tobe made. Once the customer's request for service has been received, anoptimal route must be found. All the network elements along the routemust be available. Available elements must be connectable to make up thecircuit design to deliver the private line. Right now there are mostlikely months between the time the customer places an order for networkservice and the time of actual delivery of that service. This delayresults in customer dissatisfaction with the network provider, and alsocosts the network provider lost revenue during the interval of time acommunication line is being installed.

To date, the tasks performed to install a private line have beenperformed manually with some few exceptions for portions of the tasks.For example, computing systems have been brought to bear on the problemof finding the optimal route. However, computing systems yield resultsonly as good as the data they work with, and the actual field inventoryoften differs from the stored field inventory in the computing system.What is available in the computer records may not in fact be availablein the field. Further, computing systems without adequate data about thenetwork may be programmed to make assumptions in creating a route forinstallation of a private line. These assumptions may not be valid whenit is time to connect network elements together to complete thecommunication circuit design. Finally, what appears to be a valid designon the engineer's drafting board may contain network elements in thefield that are not consistent with the computer information or theengineer's information and therefore are not connectable.

Further, performance of these installation tasks often results in designtrade-off choices that may affect the service to the customer and thusrequire repeated consultation with the customer as the communicationline is built. In the past the customer has placed a request for serviceand waited days to hear whether the network provider had the capacity toprovide the service. In the past the customer has placed a reservationfor a service order and waited weeks for confirmation of thereservation. In the past the customer has submitted a service order forinstallation of the service and waited months for delivery of theservice.

It is with respect to these considerations and others that the presentinvention has been made.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, the above and other problemsare solved by an order entry system communicating with the customer overa user interface and at the same time communicating with an automatedinstallation system for installing network service. The communicationwith the customer can be accomplished over the World Wide Web. Thecustomer goes to the network provider's web site and signs on to gainaccess to the order entry system. The order entry system than conducts aconversation with the customer who is requesting service and the orderentry system conducts a conversation with the automated installationsystem that is installing the service. The order entry performs thetasks of prompting the customer to place a new service order. Theservice parameters of the new service order are passed to theinstallation system. The installation system responds to the order entrysystem with a route, i.e. network service available, or no route. Theorder entry system notifies the customer of the route and price andprompts the customer to add a service order for the route to thecustomer order. If the customer adds the service order to the customerorder, the order entry system prompts the customer to reserve theservice order or to submit an order for the service.

If the customer reserves the service order, the order entry systemrequests the installation system to complete a design for an actualcommunication line circuit to satisfy the order. The installation systemrechecks that there is capacity for the route, assigns and validates thecommunication line, and completes the design for the communication linecircuit. Lastly, the installation returns a reserved status along withdetailed information about the circuit. The order entry system informsthe customer that the communication line is reserved. This occurs withinminutes of requesting the reservation, and the customer can accessdetail information about network components along the communication linecircuit if desired.

If the customer submits an order after the reservation, the order entrysystem sends a confirmation of the order to the customer and asks theinstallation for final installation and testing of the communicationline circuit. The installation system works with a workflow managementmodule in the order entry system to complete final hook-up and test ofthe communication line service. Any network components not controlled bythe automated installation system require work site task lists fortechnicians to complete the hook-up. These task lists are generated bythe work flow management module. Once the hook-up and test is complete,the work flow management module notifies the customer the circuit isready and turns the circuit over to the network operations center.

The great advantage of this invention is that a communication linewithin the network may be designed and configured in a matter of minutesrather than months. While the customer is online requesting a serviceorder, the customer gets immediate responses about network capacity andprice, service order reserved and confirmation of submission of aservice order. Subsequently, if the customer's equipment is located ator near node locations of the network, the customer's communication linemay be connected to the customer's equipment and providing service assoon as manual connection to the network occurs—usually a matter ofhours or days rather than months.

These and various other features as well as advantages, whichcharacterize the present invention, will be apparent from a reading ofthe following detailed description and a review of the associateddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a system for automatically installing communication linesin response to submitted orders for network service.

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of the operations performed in theorder entry and workflow management system 102 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates the operations performed by the check capacity module204 of FIG. 2 and the check capacity module 235 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 illustrates the operations performed by the reservation/ordermodule 208 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 illustrates the operations performed by the pending reservationmodule 210 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 shows the operations performed by the workflow management module218 in FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is a screen shot of a Check Capacity, Capacity Criteria computerscreen displayed to a customer.

FIG. 8 is a screen shot of a Check Capacity, Price and Availabilitycomputer screen displayed to a customer.

FIG. 9 is a screen shot of a Service Order List computer screendisplayed to a customer.

FIG. 10 is a screen shot of one screen showing a portion of a circuitlayout record displayed to a customer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows the architecture of an automated installation system fordelivering a communication line service to a customer with minimaldelay. The communication line may be viewed as a dedicated private lineor private channel through the telecommunications network over whichmultiple types of transmission data may be transported. The system hasan order entry and work flow management system 102, a command controlengine 104, a routing engine 106, a provisioning system 108, and aservice management system 110. Command control engine 104 integrates theoperations performed by all of the other engines and systems to controlthe installation system operations.

The reconciliation system 112 adds flexible adjustment of theinstallation system to recover and work around problems arising duringthe automated delivery of the communication line service. The operationsresearch system 118 provides performance and cost information to theorder entry and workflow management system 102 and network rules to therouting engine 106.

Order entry system 102 interacts with the customer through a remotecomputer 116 to create a customer order for the customer. The remotecomputer is preferably communicating with the order entry system on theinternet over the World Wide Web. The customer would open the networkservices provider's web site and then sign-on with a prearranged user IDand password to reach the order entry system. The customer then followsprompts in user interface computer screens provided by the order entrysystem and described hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 7-10. The userinterface screens lead the customer through the process of placing acustomer order with the network provider. The customer order may containone or more service orders; each service order specifying a networkcommunication line service being reserved or ordered by the customer.

The order entry system will conduct a dialog with the customer at theremote computer 116 through the user interface screens. The dialog is ona real time basis with the automated installation of the communicationline in that, while the service order is being created, reserved andsubmitted, the installation system is checking network capacity,assigning and validating network components and connecting and testingcomponents. This dialog first collects from the customer necessaryinformation to create a service order for the private line service, andthen conducts a dialog with the customer to prompt the customer to savea service order, reserve a service order or submit a service order. Theorder entry system also conducts a dialog with the installation system.The order entry system works with command control engine 104 andprovides real time feedback to the customer on availability, reservationand installation status for a service order.

The routing engine 106 receives commands from the control engine 104 todetermine possible paths for the private line, i.e. a communicationline, to be provided to the customer. The operations research system 118provides network rules to the routing engine so that the routing enginemay formulate a route for the private line. The operations researchsystem 118 also provides cost and pricing information to the order entrysystem reflective of the rules being provided to the routing engine 106.Routing engine 106 under control of the command control engine returnsinformation to the order entry system regarding the capacity of thesystem. The order entry system 102 can then reply to the customer in areal time basis whether the customer order can be accommodated.

One example of a routing engine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,146,000(the '000 patent), filed Jan. 25, 2002, and entitled “ROUTING ENGINE FORTELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORK.” The specification and drawings of thisapplication are incorporated herein as an exemplary routing engine foruse in this installation system.

If the customer reserves the service order or submits an order for theservice, the command control engine 104 engages the provisioning system108 to provision and assign elements to the circuit or route.Provisioning system 108 also validates the circuit or route against anetwork asset inventory database. If the circuit is validated then thecircuit is provided to the service management system along withconfiguration information. Service management system 110 automaticallyconfigures the network 120 to create the private line circuit from endto end in accordance with the customer service order. Service managementsystem 110 works with various network element-driving units to drivenetwork elements in the network to connect and activate the privateline. Once the private line is connected and activated in the network,the command control engine communicates with the order entry andworkflow management system 102 to report network components it could notconnect and activate. Order entry and workflow management system 102generates worksite task lists to complete the installation of theprivate line circuit for the customer. In most instances all of theworksite tasks will be just those necessary at the end points orgateways to connect into the customer's systems, but the task list couldalso include worksite tasks along the route.

A significant aspect of the installation system is that it is designedto automatically work around problems in implementing the private line.In addition the installation system implements a network elementrecovery operation using the reconciliation system 112 to recovernetwork elements marked as bad or unavailable for some reason. When thecommand control engine detects a failure or error in installationoperations—routing, provisioning and assigning, configuration andactivation then the command control engine can call the reconciliationsystem 112. The reconciliation system 112 receives input and cooperateswith the service management system 112 and provisioning system 108 toreconcile problems in links or segments between nodes or section atnodes in the network. Such problems might include erroneous indicationsof availability of a segment or port, erroneous connection of a segmentto a port at a network element, and in general any port or segmentissues that might arise. The reconciliation system 112, along with theservice management system 110, generates reports for designers andprovides workstation access to the live network for the designersthrough workstation 126.

One example of a system for automatically installing network service isdescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,251,221 (the '221 patent), filed Jan. 25,2002, and entitled “AUTOMATED INSTALLATION OF NETWORK SERVICE IN ATELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORK,” which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIG. 2 shows the operational flow for one embodiment of the order entryand work flow management system 102 (FIG. 1) which is the subject of thepresent invention. The logical operations of the various embodiments ofthe present invention are implemented (1) as a sequence of computerimplemented steps or program modules running on a computing systemand/or (2) as interconnected machine logic circuits or circuit moduleswithin the computing system. The implementation is a matter of choicedependent on the performance requirements of the computing systemsimplementing the invention. Accordingly, the logical operations makingup the embodiments of the present invention described herein may bereferred to variously as operations, structural devices, steps, acts ormodules. It will be recognized by one skilled in the art that theseoperations, structural devices, steps, acts and modules may beimplemented in software, in firmware, in special purpose digital logic,and any combination thereof without deviating from the spirit and scopeof the present invention as recited within the claims attached hereto.

In FIG. 2 the operational flow begins with receipt operation 200receiving a service request from a customer on the World Wide Web. Theservice request is entered by mouse clicks or keystrokes by the customeras prompted by computer screens displayed at the customer's computer 116(FIG. 1). New order test operation 202 detects whether the request isfor a new service order from the customer or for review of a previouslyreserved service order in a customer order. A customer order may containone or more service orders. If request is a new service order, theoperation flow branches YES to display capacity criteria operation 203.Operation 203 displays the “Check Capacity, Capacity Criteria” screen(FIG. 7) to the customer. This screen prompts the customer to enternetwork service parameters such as product name, geographical region,bandwidth, lease term, source or originating location, destination orterminating location and framing. The originating and terminatinglocations may also be referred to herein as end points or gateways.

The check capacity module 204 receives theses network parameters andgenerates a request for a route from the installation system of FIG. 1through the command control engine 104 (FIG. 1). The command controlengine 104 working with the routing engine 106 (FIG. 1) checks thenetwork inventory database for network capacity to satisfy the order. Ifa route is available, the command control engine returns high-levelroute information to the check capacity module. Display availabilityoperation 205 displays this route information along with priceinformation to the customer in the Capacity Check, Price andAvailability screen (FIG. 8). When a route is available, the Price andAvailability screen (FIG. 8) prompts the customer to add the service tothe service order list. If the customer selects the add service button,the operation flow proceeds to reservation/order module 208. If a routeis not available, the command control engine returns a no route messageto the check capacity module 204. The check capacity module will display“No Route” to the customer and return operational flow to the mainsystem operation flow. The check capacity module is described in moredetail hereinafter with reference to FIG. 3.

If the customer is searching for an existing customer order and notrequesting a new service order, the operation flow branches NO from neworder test operation 202 to the retrieve customer order operation 206.Retrieve operation 206 retrieves a previously saved customer order andprovides the information to the reservation/order module 208.

The reservation/order module 208 displays the customer order as aService Order List screen (FIG. 9) to the customer. Module 208 displaysthe service order list resulting from a new order or previous customerorder that has been retrieved. The Service Order List screen prompts thecustomer to start a new service order, save customer order, reservebandwidth or submit customer order. The operation flow forreservation/order module 208 is shown in detailed and describedhereinafter with reference to FIG. 4.

If the customer starts a new service order, reservation/order module 208returns the operation flow back to display operation 203 to start theordering dialog with the customer. Regarding the save order command, acustomer may elect to save a customer order if for some reason thecustomer wishes to interrupt the ordering process and later return tothe order. In this event, module 208 simply saves the customer order.When the customer returns, the customer order would be retrieved byretrieve operation 207.

If the customer elects to reserve bandwidth, reservation/order module208 starts the process to reserve a service order. A request from module208 to the command control engine 104 (FIG. 1) initiates a capacityrecheck. The command control engine then controls the installationsystem of FIG. 1 to assign network components, validate the componentand complete a circuit design to implement the communication linecircuit. The reservation module 208 receives a circuit layout recordback from the command control engine 104 (FIG. 1) which, in effect, is amessage that the design is complete and the service order is reserved.The reservation/order module 208 then updates the display to thecustomer to indicate a reserved status for the service order. Thereservation module also sets a reservation period and the number ofreservation renewals that are permitted. The default reservation periodis five days and the default reservation renewal is two. A customerdialog may be provided to allow these defaults to be changed for thecustomer.

After the reservation is completed, the operation flow proceeds to thepending reservation module 210. The pending reservation module 210monitors the service order status. If the customer does not submit anorder for the service within the predetermined reservation period oftime, the reservation expires, and the network components of the circuitreserved for the service order are released back to inventory. Thepending reservation module is described hereinafter with reference toFIG. 5.

When a customer elects to submit a customer order for a service, thisevent could occur for a reserved service order or might occur directlywithout the customer making a reservation. In the former event,reservation/order module 208 retrieves the reserved service order andthe operation flow passes to send confirmation operation 214. In thelatter event, there is no reservation and reservation/order module 208passes operation flow back to check capacity module 204 where thesequential operations to fill the service order begin by rechecking thenetwork capacity to be sure an unreserved route is still available.

After the network capacity is rechecked, the command control engine 104(FIG. 1) orchestrates the installation process. This includes assigningnetwork components, validating the components and completing the circuitdesign for the communication line circuit. Once the communication linecircuit is completed, usually a matter of minutes, the command controlengine returns the circuit layout record to the order entry system. Anexample of a portion of a circuit layout record is shown in FIG. 10.Receive record operation 212 receives the circuit layout record whichalso indicates the network components in the circuit are reserved. Whenthe layout record is received, send confirmation operation 214 sends aservice order confirmation to the customer. The customer can request tosee the circuit layout record, and a copy will be displayed to thecustomer's computer screen.

After the sending of the order confirmation, the operation flow passesto the workflow management module 218. The workflow management modulemanages the final installation of the circuit to provide the networkservice. Workflow module 218 begins by requesting the command controlengine 104 (FIG. 1) to perform final configuration and activation of thenetwork components in the communication line circuit. Any networkcomponents, that the installation system of FIG. 1 does not have controlof during configuration and activation, are identified in a uncontrollednetwork components list returned to the workflow management module. Theworkflow module generates a tasks list for technicians to complete thehook-up and test. Once the communication line circuit is ready, it isturned over to the network operations center. Operational flow returnsfrom the workflow management system to the main system. The workflowmanagement module is described hereinafter in more detail with referenceto FIG. 6.

This completes the overall description of a preferred embodiment of theorder entry and workflow management system. The operating details ofmodules inside the order entry and workflow management system are nowdescribed with reference to FIGS. 3-6. The check capacity module 204 ofFIG. 2 and check capacity module 235 of FIG. 4 are the same design andshown in detail in FIG. 3. The operation flow for the check capacitymodule begins with receive parameters operation 219 in FIG. 3. Receiveoperation 219 receives the network service parameters entered by thecustomer on Capacity Criteria screen (FIG. 7). Send parameters operation220 provides the service parameters to the command control engine 104(FIG. 1).

The command control engine works with the routing engine 106 (FIG. 1) tofind an optimal route. If a route is available, the command controlengine returns high level route information to the check capacity modulein the order entry system. If a route is not available, the commandcontrol returns a no route message to the check capacity module.

In FIG. 3 receive route operation 221 receives the route information. Ifthe capacity check was part of submitting an order without reservation,order test operation 222 branches the operational flow to receivecircuit layout record operation 212 described above for FIG. 2. If thecapacity check was part of submitting an order based on a reservation,reservation test operation 223 branches the operation flow to receivecircuit layout record operation 236 in FIG. 4 which will be describedshortly. If the capacity check was for a new order, then the operationflow will pass through both the order test 222 and the reservation test223 to the create route/cost information operation 224.

Create route/cost information operation 224 receives the routeinformation and either already has cost information for the route orreceives cost information from the operations research system 118 (FIG.1). Create operation 224 combines the route and cost information tocreate the Price And Availability screen (FIG. 8) to be displayed to thecustomer by display operation 205 (FIG. 2).

If no route is available, receive no route operation 225 receives the noroute message from the command control engine 104. Display no routeoperation 226 displays the “No Route” message to the customer. Initiateoperation 227 sends a message to the command control engine 104 toanalyze the service order and the network to determine why the networkservice is not available. This provides an opportunity for manualintervention off-line. An example of manual intervention is described inthe '221 patent, cited above. The operation flow then returns fromoperation 227 to the main system program flow, and this completes thedescription of one embodiment of the check capacity module.

FIG. 4 shows the operations performed by the reservation/order module208 of FIG. 2. The operation flow begins with display list operation 229which begins the dialog with the customer regarding what actions to takewhen requested network service is available. Display operation 229 showsthe Service Order List computer display screen shown in FIG. 9. Thecustomer may select Start New Service Order, Save Customer Order,Reserve Bandwidth, or Submit Customer Order. The command selections bythe customer are detected by detect operations 230, 234 and 242 in FIG.4. The detection of start new order is not shown in FIG. 4 as thisdetection simply causes the operational flow to return to displayoperation 203 in FIG. 2.

Detect save operation 230 in FIG. 4 detects a Save Customer Orderselection on the Service Order List screen of FIG. 9. The customer mayselect save when in the midst of working with an order entry, thecustomer is interrupted but does not want to lose the work performed sofar on an order entry. When the save command is detected, save orderoperation 232 saves the information entered for the order and the statusof the order. The operation flow then returns to the main program flow.

When a reserve bandwidth command is detected by detect operation 234,capacity check module 235 is invoked to recheck the availability of theroute in the service order being reserved. The capacity check module(shown in FIG. 3) sends the network parameters for the new networkservice to the command control engine. The command control engine 104(FIG. 1) checks the capacity, and assigns and validates networkcomponents to implement the order. If the network components consumed bythe assignment are properly validated against the asset inventorydatabase, the installation system of FIG. 1 will complete the circuitdesign to implement the route for the customer order. Once the circuitdesign is complete, the installation system returns a circuit layoutrecord (FIG. 10) to the reservation/order module. Receive recordoperation 236 detects and saves the circuit layout record whichindicates the network components to fill the service order are reserved.Send status operation 238 updates the customer display in the ServiceOrder List screen to indicate “Reserved” for the service order. Setoperation 240 sets the reservation period and number of reservationrenewals allotted to the reservation. Operation flow then proceeds tothe pending reservation module 210 (FIG. 1) which operates to monitorthe reservation status for service orders.

When a submit order command is detected by detect operation 242,reservation test operation 244 tests whether the order was previouslyreserved. If the order is not reserved, the operation flow branches NOto check capacity module 204 in FIG. 2, and the order is submitted andprocessed as described above for FIG. 2. If the order has a reservation,the operation flow branches YES to retrieve order operation 246.Retrieve operation 246 retrieves the reserved service order. Clearoperation 248 clears the reservation status of the service order andreturns the operation flow to send confirmation operation 214 (FIG. 1).This completes the operations performed by the reservation/order module.

FIG. 5 shows the operations performed by the pending reservation module210 of FIG. 2. This is the module that monitors the reservation statusof service orders; this is done offline from the main flow for the orderentry system. In FIG. 5, the operational flow begins with check statusoperation 300 to look-up the reservation status of a service order.Expiration test operation 304 tests whether the reservation period forthe order has expired. The reservation period is set by operation 240(FIG. 4). If the time period has not timed out, then the operation flowbranches NO and returns to check order status operation 300. Thismonitoring loop will continue check the reservation status on a periodicbasis until a submit order is detected from the customer or thereservation has expired.

If the reservation expires, then the operation flow branches YES fromexpiration test operation 304 to query operation 306. Query operation306 sends a query to the customer giving the customer the option toeither renew the reservation or submit the order. The option to renew isonly provided if the number of renewals provided by set operation 240(FIG. 4) have not been used up. If the customer is permitted to renewand responds by renewing the reservation, operation flow returns tocheck order status operation 300. If the customer does not renew thereservation, the operation flow branches NO to release operation 312.Release reservation operation 312 releases all the network componentsassociated with the reserved service order and again makes thosecomponents available in the system for use by others. At a later time,the customer may again make the same service request. The networkcomponents and capacity may be available or not depending on otherservice requests received by the installation system. After the networkcomponents are released, the operation flow returns to the main systemprogram. The pending reservation module continues to monitor the statusof other service orders.

Referring now to FIG. 6, the operational flow of the workflow managementmodule 218 in FIG. 2 will be described in detail. In FIG. 6 theoperation flow begins with service order request operation 330. Requestoperation 330 sends a request to the command control engine 104 (FIG. 1)to configure and activate the circuit for the customer service order.The installation system of FIG. 1 configures, activates and tests actualnetwork components to implement the private line or communication linecircuit for the service order. Network components in the circuit thatcannot be controlled and activated by the installation system areidentified and a list of uncontrolled network components is sent back toreceive operation 332 of the workflow management module of FIG. 6.

Receive uncontrolled components operation 332 receives the uncontrolledcomponents list. Uncontrolled network components are usually componentsat the originating and terminating end points or gateways of the networkwhere the customer's equipment is hooked-up to the network. Theseuncontrolled components must be manually hooked-up to the network. It isalso possible that a minimal number of uncontrolled components withinthe network might also require manual connection at a work site otherthan the originating and terminating end points. Once the list ofuncontrolled components has been received, task generation operation 334analyzes the list and generates a work site task list for a technician.Some of the work site tasks will include customer hook-up. Scheduleoperation 336 schedules a technician to hook-up the network tocustomer's equipment at the end points or gateways.

Schedule operation 338 schedules the communication line or private linecircuit for test and turn-up. Test and turn-up is the final test andactivation of the circuit attached to the customer's equipment. The testand turn-up is scheduled after hook-up and near in time to the customerrequest date (CRD), the first day of service for the customer.

If the test and turn-up operation is successful, a message or personalcall goes to the customer in call operation 340 notifying the customerthe private line circuit requested in the service order is ready andasking if the customer is ready to accept the private line circuit. Thiswill normally occur on the CRD specified by the customer in the serviceorder. Accordingly, since the private line is ready at CRD day, triggeraccount operation 342 will start the billing of the customer's accountfor the new private line service. If the private line circuit is readyahead of the CRD day, and if the customer indicates he is not ready toaccept, the trigger operation 342 does not begin billing the customer'saccount until the customer indicates he accepts service, or the CRD dayis reached, whichever occurs first.

Accept test operation 344 detects whether the customer has accepted thenew private or communication line service. If the customer accepts theservice, the operation flow branches YES to enable alarms operation 346.Enable alarms operation 346 sends a message to the command controlengine 104 (FIG. 1) to send commands to the network components along theroute of the private line circuit enabling alarms that will detectfaults in circuit. These fault alarms are monitored by a networkoperations center. After the alarms are enabled, the hand-off circuitoperation 348 transfers responsibility for the private line circuit tothe network operation center. The network operation center will monitorthe private line circuit for faults indicated by the alarms, repair thefaults, route around faults and otherwise maintain the private lineservice delivered to the customer. The operation flow then returns tothe main system flow.

If the customer does not accept the private line service, the operationflow branches NO from test operation 344 to hand-off service order (SO)operation 350. Hand-off SO operation transfers responsibility forcustomer acceptance of the private line service to customer management.Customer management is a separate off-line operation that follows upwith the customer until the customer is ready to accept the private lineservice. In this situation, the alarms in the private line circuit havenot been set as the alarms might be falsely triggered because thecircuit is quiet (no transmissions). The operation flow then returns tothe main system flow.

Referring now to FIGS. 7-10 showing screen shots of screens displayed tothe customer during the handling of an order for network service, theuser interface will be described from the customer's perspective at thecomputer station 116 (FIG. 1). To access the order entry system, thecustomer dials directly into a network provider's order entry system orpreferably signs on to the order entry system through the World WideWeb. To sign in through the web, the customer goes to the networkprovider's web site, selects “Log In” and signs on using a user ID andpassword. This will take the customer to a screen called the “Dashboard”(not shown) where the customer can select “New Order,” “Capacity Check,”or choose to open previous reserved service orders or previous saveddesigns (orders saved but not reserved). If the customer is placing anew order, then selection of New Order or Capacity Check will take thecustomer to the Check Capacity, Capacity Criteria screen shown in FIG.7.

In FIG. 7 the screen shot prompts the customer to enter the parametersto begin requesting network service. Product dialog box 702 has dropdown selections where the customer selects the desired network service;in this example, the network service is private line. All dialog boxesfor capacity criteria have drop down selections to assist the customer.Region dialog box 704 prompts the customer select the geographicalregion for service such as North America, Europe, Asia, etc. Bandwidthdialog box 706 asks the customer to specify the bandwidth of theservice. In this example OC12 refers to fiber optical network service at633 megabits per second. Channelize dialog box 708 is asking thecustomer whether or not he wishes the private line divided into multiplechannels. Term dialog box 710 allows the customer to select the durationof the lease. A longer lease carries a lower charge rate. Originatingend dialog boxes 712 asks the customer to select a originating locationfor connection into the network provider's network. The customer is alsoprompted to indicate whether the customer will provide access to hisequipment or whether the customer will locate his connecting equipmentat a colocation (Colo) site with the network provider. At a Colo sitethe customer's equipment is located at the same site as a gateway of thenetwork. Lastly at the originating end dialog boxes, the customer isasked for a Demarc selection and a Framing selection. Terminating enddialog boxes 714 prompts the customer for the same information at theterminating location as was request for the originating end of thenetwork service. Finally, Customer Request Date boxes 716 ask thecustomer for the start date of the network service.

After the network service parameters for the new order are entered, thecustomer is prompted for an action. “Select Segments” button 718 allowsthe customer to specify some or all of a route for the service. “CheckCapacity” button 720 requests the order entry system to check thecapacity for the requested service just entered. “Add to Service OrderList” button 722 allows the customer to save the request as a ServiceOrder on the Service Order List.

Assuming the customer selects check capacity, the order entry systemwill check the capacity as described above and return the CheckCapacity, Price and Availability screen shown in FIG. 8. This screen hasa row 802 defining the service order, rows 804 reporting the capacitycheck results and a row 806 indicating the route price. The serviceorder is given a number and references a customer order number.Parameters of the service are recited in the service order row. Thecapacity check results rows 804 indicate high level nodes of the routeand the location identification number for the nodes. The price rowindicates the setup or nonrefundable cost (NRC) and the monthly cost(MRC) along with a cost per mile. If the customer wants to add theservice order to his customer order he clicks on add button 808.

A Service Order List screen as shown in FIG. 9 is next displayed to thecustomer. In FIG. 9, a customer order containing two service orders 902and 904 is shown. Service order 902 for private line service betweenAustin and Dallas is shown as “Reserved.” Service order 904 for privateline service between Dallas and Seattle is shown as “Not Saved.” Thereare five action buttons—Start New Service Order, Save Customer Order,Reserve Bandwidth, Submit Customer Order, and Refresh Displayed Status.If the customer has just finished the capacity check for service order904, he would likely select the service order 904 and then selectreserve bandwidth. The status would change to Pending and in a fewminutes, when the private line is reserved, the status would change toReserved. When the service order is reserved, a circuit layout recordwill also be available. For example in FIG. 9, the service order 902 hasa reserved status and the circuit layout record ID shows up in the lastcolumn of the row for service order 902. If the customer wishes to seethe circuit layout record, he would click on the record ID.

FIG. 10 is a screen shot of a portion of a circuit layout record. Thecircuit layout record identifies details of the circuit. The equipmenttype is shown in the second column. The record also includes physicallocation of equipment, system names for equipment, card ID's, port ID'sand in general gives a knowledgeable customer all information necessaryto understand the network components making up the private line orcommunication line service that has been reserved.

The customer could also have selected the submit customer order buttonon the Service Order List screen in FIG. 9. If so the order entry systemproceeds with final installation of the network service and returns aservice order confirmation screen (not shown) to the customer.

The various embodiments described above are provided by way ofillustration only and should not be construed to limit the invention.Those skilled in the art will readily recognize various modificationsand changes that may be made to the present invention without followingthe example embodiments and applications illustrated and describedherein, and without departing from the true spirit and scope of thepresent invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

1. A system for ordering a network service on a telecommunicationsnetwork, the system comprising: a capacity check module responsive toparameters in a network service request by a customer, wherein thecapacity check module is operable to: check availability of a networkservice; and if the network service is available, send a network serviceavailable message to the customer; a reservation/order module operableto display a service order to the customer, wherein thereservation/order module is further operable to prompt the customer toreserve or order the network service in the service order; aninstallation system operable to install the network service during theordering of the network service, wherein the installation system isfurther operable to, in response to a reserve request or an orderrequest for the network service, complete a design of network componentsfor the network service and return a design complete message; and aworkflow management module operable to, in response to a design completemessage resulting from an order request if the customer ordered thenetwork service, manage activation of the network components in thedesign, wherein the reservation/order module is further operable to, inresponse to a design complete message resulting from a reserve requestif the customer reserved the network service, update the status of theservice order display to indicate the service order is reserved.
 2. Thesystem as recited claim 1, wherein the design complete message is acircuit layout record, and wherein the reservation/order module isfurther operable to display the circuit layout record to the customer.3. The system as recited claim 1, further comprising: a confirmationdevice operable to, in response to the design complete message resultingfrom the order request, send an order confirmation to the customer. 4.The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the capacity check module isfurther operable to, in response to a reserve request or an orderrequest, recheck the capacity of the network to satisfy the serviceorder before the installation system completes the design.
 5. The systemas recited in claim 1, further comprising: a pending reservation moduleoperable to: monitor the reservation status of the service order if thecustomer reserved the network service; and prompt the customer to renewthe reservation if the reservation expires, wherein the reservationmodule is further operable to release the network components in thedesign if the reservation is not renewed.
 6. The system as recited inclaim 1, wherein the workflow management module is further operable tomanage hook-up of the network components in the design.
 7. A method forordering a network service on a telecommunications network, the methodcomprising: in response to a network service request by a customer,checking availability of a network service; if the network service isavailable, sending a network service available message to the customer;prompting the customer to reserve or order the network service via aservice order display; in response to a reserve request or an orderrequest for the network service, completing a design of networkcomponents for the network service; returning a design complete message;in response to a design complete message resulting from an order requestif the customer ordered the network service: managing activation of thenetwork components in the design; and in response to a design completemessage resulting from a reserve request if the customer reserved thenetwork service: updating the status of the service order display toindicate the service order is reserved.
 8. The method as recited claim7, wherein the design complete message is a circuit layout record, themethod further comprising: displaying the circuit layout record to thecustomer.
 9. The method as recited claim 7, further comprising: inresponse to the design complete message resulting from the orderrequest, sending an order confirmation to the customer.
 10. The methodas recited in claim 7, further comprising: in response to a reserverequest or an order request, rechecking the capacity of the network tosatisfy the service order before the installation system completes thedesign.
 11. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising:monitoring the reservation status of the service order if the customerreserved the network service; prompting the customer to renew thereservation if the reservation expires; and releasing the networkcomponents in the design if the reservation is not renewed.
 12. Themethod as recited in claim 7, further comprising: managing hook-up ofthe network components in the design.
 13. A system for ordering anetwork service on a telecommunications network, the system comprising:an order entry module operable to, in response to a request for networkservice by a customer, prompt the customer to provide parameters of therequested network service; an installation system operable to checkavailability of the network service based on the parameters; areservation/order module operable to prompt the customer to reserve ororder the network service if available; in response to a reserve requestor an order request for the network service, the installation system isfurther operable to configure network components for the networkservice; a workflow management module operable to initiate activation ofthe configured network components; and a pending reservation moduleoperable to monitor the reservation status of the service order if thecustomer reserved the order, wherein the reservation/order module isfurther operable to confirm to the customer that the design is reservedor ordered.
 14. The system as recited in claim 13, wherein theinstallation system is further operable to recheck route availabilitybefore the installation system configures the network components. 15.The system as recited in claim 13, wherein the order entry module isfurther operable to: receive the parameters from the customer via a userinterface; and display, via the user interface, an add service selectionfor the customer to add the network service to a customer order.
 16. Thesystem as recited in claim 15, wherein the order entry module is furtheroperable to, in response to the add service selection by the customer,display, via the user interface, the customer order with the requestednetwork service listed on a service order list.
 17. The system asrecited in claim 16, wherein the reservation/order module is furtheroperable to: if the customer reserved the order, display a reservedstatus for the network service via the user interface; and if thecustomer ordered the service, display an order confirmation for thenetwork service via the user interface.
 18. The system as recited inclaim 13, wherein the pending reservation module is further operable toprompt the customer to renew the reservation if the reservation expires,and wherein the reservation/order module is further operable to releasethe configured network components if the reservation is not renewed. 19.The system as recited in claim 13, wherein the workflow managementmodule is further operable to initiate hook-up of the configured networkcomponents.
 20. A method for ordering a network service on atelecommunications network, the method comprising: in response to arequest for network service by a customer, prompting the customer toprovide parameters of the requested network service; checkingavailability of the network service based on the parameters; promptingthe customer to reserve or order the network service if available; inresponse to a reserve request or an order request for the networkservice, configuring network components for the network service;initiating activation of the configured network components; confirmingto the customer that the design is reserved or ordered; and monitoringthe reservation status of the service order if the customer reserved theorder.
 21. The method as recited in claim 20, further comprising:rechecking route availability before the installation system configuresthe network components.
 22. The method as recited in claim 21, furthercomprising: receiving the parameters from the customer via a userinterface; and displaying, via the user interface, an add serviceselection for the customer to add the network service to a customerorder.
 23. The method as recited in claim 22, further comprising: inresponse to the add service selection by the customer, displaying, viathe user interface, the customer order with the requested networkservice listed on a service order list.
 24. The method as recited inclaim 23, further comprising: if the customer reserved the order,displaying a reserved status for the network service via the userinterface; and if the customer ordered the service, displaying an orderconfirmation for the network service via the user interface.
 25. Themethod as recited in claim 20, further comprising: prompting thecustomer to renew the reservation if the reservation expires; andreleasing the configured network components if the reservation is notrenewed.
 26. The method as recited in claim 20, further comprising:initiating hook-up of the configured network components.